MEN CLAIM VEHICLE CAME WITH POT STASH

A man being held in a Mexican prison on drug charges claims the U.S.
Customs Service failed to remove nearly 40 pounds of marijuana from a sport
utility vehicle sold at a government auction.

Francisco Rivera Agredano and his business partner were arrested at a
checkpoint near Ensenada, Mexico, after soldiers found 22 packages of
marijuana in a secret compartment of his 1987 Nissan Pathfinder.

In a legal claim filed against the Customs Service, Rivera asserts the
marijuana wasn't his but had been left there by the previous owner -- who
was arrested a year earlier trying to cross into the United States from
Mexico with 60 pounds of marijuana hidden in the gas tank.